biden blasting the supreme court as out of control as he moved to protect some abortion access kelly o'donnell joins us kelly, what action did the president take today? >> reporter: well, under pressure from angry democrats impatient with the administration over abortion rights, the president today signed an executive order the white house makes clear it's only a small step while the president's ability to act is narrow, he turned up his direct attacks on the court's conservative majority. >> we cannot allow an out-of-control supreme court, working in conjunction with extremist elements of the republican party, to take away freedoms and our personal autonomy. >> reporter: the president signed an order that asks federal agencies to figure out new rules and policies to make sure fda-approved medication for abortion remains widely accessible, along with contraception. also to protect patient privacy when women seek out reproductive medical services and online information. but he made a passionate appeal that only voting can bring back a constitutional right to abortion by choosing a congress that

kingdom to ramp up oil production with the hope of bringing down gas prices at home lester >> kelly o'donnell in jerusalem tonight, thank you. >>> in 60 seconds, they're trying to combat gun violence, but we'll talk to police who say they're caught between conflicting state and federal gun laws in our series "crime and consequences." >>> back now with our series "crime and consequences" and the fight between the states and the federal government over gun laws stephanie gosk takes us to one state where some police say they're caught in the middle >> reporter: september 2019 in columbia, missouri five murders in just ten days police led by chief jeff jones formed a task force with the atf to fight back. >> we were getting lead after lead after lead, and we were solving gun crime after gun crime after gun crime. >> reporter: but that stopped after missouri passed a law called the second amendment preservation act >> we had to pull out. we had to stop working with the atf to avoid litigation. >> reporter: the legislation which took effect in 2021 bars police from enforcing federal gun laws that a

justices of outrageous behavior and urging a controversial change to senate rules in response kelly o'donnell has that story >> reporter: from a world stage moment in spain, president biden accused the highest court of upending american freedom. >> the one thing that has been destabilizing is the outrageous behavior of the supreme court of the united states on overruling not only roe v. wade but essentially challenging the right to privacy. >> reporter: consequences he sees as so dire the president urged congress to restore abortion rights with new law. but in a 50/50 senate, democrats don't have enough votes making a surprise announcement today - >> and if the filibuster gets in the way -- >> reporter: -- the president said he would back a limited change to senate rules to allow a simple majority vote to make abortion legal again nationally. >> requiring exception of the filibuster for this action to deal with the supreme court decision. >> reporter: that's a flip, breaking his decades long filibuster support. >> ending the filibuster is a very dangerous thing to do. >> reporter: but tonight

lester >> kelly o'donnell, thank you. >>> now to our nbc news exclusive wnba star brittney griner is due back in a russian court tomorrow, and perhaps no one understands her struggle quite like a young american with a very similar story she's never shared her account publicly before, but tonight she's breaking her silence with our kate snow >> are you speaking out right now in part because you hope brittney griner hears you and feels your camaraderie? >> that's probably the biggest reason that i'm here >> reporter: naama issachar grew up in new jersey and moved to israel as a teen in 2019, she backpacked through india and had a layover in moscow on her way home she says she was pulled from the boarding line, taken to a room where authorities searched her checked backpack and found a third of an ounce of cannabis >> i was like, where did that come from there was no point that i was like, oh no, they found it. like i didn't know it was in my bag. >> reporter: she was charged with possession and later trafficking. over the next ten months issachar was held in cells with up to 40 other w

not just on the field of play, but also in the halls of power kelly o'donnell now with the americanswarded the presidential medal of freedom. >> reporter: extraordinary lives of accomplishment and character. gifted americans whose sacrifice, talent, and vision is lifted up today with the highest civilian honor a decorated olympian who found balance as a mental health advocate a war hero turned political force. the first woman to deploy with a bomber unit a technology trailblazer who put the world in our hands. activists for equality when icons of civil rights needed legal help, they called fred gray. >> one of the most important civil rights lawyers in our history. >> reporter: from gymnast simone biles. >> at age 25, the youngest person ever to receive the medal of freedom. >> reporter: to soccer great megan rapinoe's other scoring goal endurance of another kind gabby giffords' sheer will to survive powers her cause to stop gun violence >> gabby is one of the most courageous people i have ever known. >> reporter: honoring service to others through faith, healing, and commitment to c

here's kelly o'donnell. >> reporter: almost 2,000 gathered today on the south lawn to mark the most hard fought bipartisan achievement of the biden era. the first new gun safety law in nearly three decades. >> lives will be saved today and tomorrow because of this. >> reporter: one father whose son died at parkland interrupted, shouting that more must be done. >> let him talk. let him talk. >> reporter: the president hailed the new law as progress as his political standing appears precarious a new poll from the "new york times" finds 64% of democratic voters say they would prefer a different leader in the 2024 election mr. biden's age cited most he'd be 82 right after the election. >> we need some younger people in the office >> yeah. >> that's bottom line. >> should be extended to everybody, yeah kind of up there. >> reporter: however the vice president said sunday they expect to be in the race. >> he intends to run. and if he does, i intend to run with him. >> reporter: one clear warning, only 13% of americans said they think the country is on the right track. >> i feel like we're taki

the trial of steve bannon, who is charged with contempt of congress but remains defiant as ever kelly o'donnell now with late details. >> reporter: trump advisor and conservative agitator, now on trial >> this show trial they're running is a disgrace. >> reporter: steve bannon, who had predicted this about january 6th. >> all hell is going to break loose tomorrow >> reporter: his fate, on two charges of misdemeanor contempt of congress, for failing to comply with the january 6th investigation, will be decided by a d.c. jury sworn in today 12 jurors, two alternates, nine men and five women, diverse in race and age. late today, in opening statements, a federal prosecutor said bannon decided he was above the law. the congressional subpoena wasn't an invitation, it was mandatory. but bannon's lawyer declared he's innocent of the charges and asked jurors, is this evidence affected by politics if convicted, bannon could face at least 30 days in jail the committee bannon defied will focus on key hours of january 6th in a thursday night hearing with live testimony from two former trump officials who ci

joining me now, kelly o'donnell and hadley getta and david ignatius joins us as well. welcome. ot official on the official schedule remarks, what is going on? what do we expect the president to say? >> this is a case and it's highly unusual for the president to be in a foreign country and to do what in local time is a late night speech. it's about 10:30 at night here. he had a full day. that doesn't happen spontaneously. it suggests that the speech was written, retold up to the last minute but they wanted to have a window of time after the meeting with mbs to be able to put this visit in perspective for the president to speak on this issue, maybe to questions. our colleague peter alexander will be in the room and fire off questions. the president is clearly aware that this visit is controversial. there are real questions about what he is saying in sort of the geopolitical statement of the u.s. president going and meeting with mbs when this president believes he was responsible for ordering the killing of jamal khashoggi in 2018, poor human rights record and there are a lot of th

with me is kelly o'donnell and mary ziegler. kelly, i want to get to you on the politics of this in a second. mary, first off i want to talk about what the president signed. what exactly will it do to enshrine protections for abortion for women in the country, especially those who live in states where abortion is being outlawed? >> there's still a lot of question marks, katy. the order charges stakeholders in the federal government with the task of figuring out what to do on specific areas, right, like protecting consumers from fraudulent practices, shoring up coverage for digital privacy but the executive order doesn't detail exactly what the biden administration is going to do to advance that agenda yet and say we're going to figure it out soon. there are several things the biden administration is not going to do. there are not steps to use federal land as a place where abortions could be provided. there's not steps to declare a public health emergency vis-a-vis abortion. this is more a signal that the biden administration is g

nbc senior white house correspondent kelly o'donnell tells us what the president is hoping to accomplishh. the president touched down here just a few minutes ago. just getting here is historic. the flight from jeddah will make joe biden the first american president to fly directly between israel and the kingdom of saudi arabia. and just meeting here is controversial. the president and the crown prince, mohammed bin salman, will be face-to-face, potentially uneasy after candidate biden had called out the saudis as a pariah state following the sanctioned murder of journalist jamal khashoggi. and white house officials have told us for weeks that the president would be meeting with the king and the full leadership team, but we now know there will be a working session involving the president and mbs directly. the president says that he will work on a number of issues, oil is among them. >> kelly o'donnell, thank you. >>> wnba star brittney griner a this morning in her drug possession trial. griner's attorney told the court that griner has a prescription for medical marijuana in the united sta

we go beyond the headlines now with nbc's julie chester on capitol hill and kelly o'donnell long distance there from saudi arabia. what does the committee want to hear from the secret service? >> alex, the homeland security inspector general said that the secret service erased text messages that it had requested from the day of the capitol riot and the day prior. in a statement, the secret service said that the inspector general did not requests those messages until after they were deleted, and what they called a device replacement system. and also claimed that the material that was requested wasn't even included in what was a racist. interestingly, the official secret service policy is that agents can't communicate via text anyway. so it's unclear what would be turned up. but the agency could add a statement refuting the inspector general's account. that inspector general briefed all nine members of the january six committee on friday and hours later chairman bennie thompson issued a subpoena. the first that the committee has issued to an executive branch agency. that subpoena requested

kelly o'donnell, my travel partner the last week as we were heading overses talking about energy, iswhite house. this is one of the real challengs where the president's hands appear to be tied. what do we think we will hear tomorrow? how limited is the president and the white house in terms of what it can do? >> reporter: good to be with you. it's hot here. people can really relate to this issue now with all of the headlines we are seeing. for the president, who has not only his own pledge and belief in doing more on climate change, he has been trying to harness other global leaders who got together for climate change summits with pledges to all work together on those achievements and without congress acting here that hampers the u.s.' compliance with the global move toward greater protection of the planet. that really is a problem for the president. what can he do? there are executive actions he can take. we expect tomorrow he will outline some. the specifics have not been laid out yet. what we know is they do not expect to go for the hail mary version, the national emergency, which

it may have a much more important purpose to not offend in saudi by talking about covid. >>> kelly o'donnell life for us with that jerusalem, dealing , kelly, thanks so much. still had her on the show, new testimony on capitol hill today from state officials from abortion advocates for legal experts on the effect of post- roe abortion restrictions. we're going to show you some key moments there and what is next. but with prices up, the dow is down. we're going to check in on wall street in its final hour of trading. later, former president trumps news controversy may be political, but it comes with a twist. how he is getting revenge or trying to on the pro golf world, while raking in millions of foreign dollars. include temporary numbness,ols discomfort and swelling. you've come this far... coolsculpting takes you further. visit coolsculpting.com ice cream is like whooping cough, it's not just for kids. whooping cough is highly contagious for people of any age. and it can cause violent uncontrollable coughing fits. ask your doctor or pharmacist about whooping cough vaccination because it's n

. >> kelly o'donnell, nbc. >> thank you, mr. president. well, you just made some news saying you would support changing the filibuster rules to codify abortion rights broadly across the country. >> right to privacy, not just abortion rights, but, yes, abortion rights. >> can you describe for us, sir, many americans are grappling with this. what is your sense today about the integrity and the impartiality of the supreme court? should americans have confidence in the court as an institution? and your views on abortion have evolved in your public life. are you the best messenger to carry this forward when democrats, many of them, many progressives, want you to do? >> yeah, i am, i'm the president of the united states of america, that makes me the best messenger, and i really think that it's a serious, serious problem that the court has thrust upon the united states, not just in terms of the right to choose, but in terms of the right to who you can marry, the right-- a whole range of issues relating to privacy and i have written way back a num

let's go right to white house correspondent kelly o'donnell. the white house is responding to yet another mass shooting, kelly. >> reporter: lester, the president reached out by phone to speak with the illinois governor and the mayor of highland park he also surged federal resources to help, including in the search for the suspect. and the president also at the white house today spoke at a cookout for military families but he only made a brief reference to today's shooting he did talk about the -- signing the first gun safety-related measure in 30 years. that got applause from the crowd but that law includes expanded background checks for gun buyers under age 21 the president said there is much more work to do lester. >> kelly, thank you. >>> we want to turn now to akron, ohio, and growing outrage over a deadly police shooting there a state of emergency and curfew have been declared after the city released police video showing eight officers firing on an unarmed black man. here is maggie vespa >> what do we want >> justice >> reporter: mounting

the president says he challenged the saudi crown prince nbc's senior white house correspondent kelly o'donnell joins us with more table. >> reporter: kelly, let's start with that overseas trip. in the end, what was accomplished and what's still left on the table? >> reporter: good to see you and good morning president biden says he believes diplomacy from his visit to saudi arabia can help consumers save money here. the president said he expects the oil producers will decide to increase output in the next few weeks, that could bring down gas prices but, important to note there was no specific commitment made and officials say more steps are still needed and on the controversy of the meeting, the fist bumping and dealing with the saudi crown prince, who u.s. officials contend ordered the 2018 murder of a "washington post" journalist, the president says he raised that killing directly, and that he does not believe the denial he got from mohammed bin salman, the crown prince sunday bernie sanders was asked about the incident and said he does not this president and the united states should be, quo

i want to bring in nbc's kelly o'donnell who is there.know if the president will speak about this, but it's not out of the realm of possibility that he would address what unfolded today when he delivers those remarks. >> i think that's a very good . just based on knowing the rhythms of how this white house and those that have come before would handle these kinds of circumstances. i've been reaching out to white house officials over the last few hours to acquire about the president being briefed and notified about this. this really became news worthy in a national sense around the time the president was traveling back. he spent the weekend with family at camp david, then came back to the white house. as you point out, we will see the president at 5:00 to host a barbecue for the holiday for military families. so there is an opportunity there for the president. this is a subject area that he's not shied away from. he has put his voice many times over to the issue of gun violence and to try to bring about greater gun safety, with measures tha

joining us now, nbc news senior white house correspondent kelly o'donnell. kelly, what are you hearing from the white house? >> reporter: well, at this point, the president has released a written statement, and he says that he and the first lady are shocked by this senseless gun violence. he talked about the fact that he reached out by phone to speak to the illinois governor and the mayor of highland park and offered his support and any federal resources, and that includes help with the investigation and help in the search for the gunman here in this case. and so, the president providing that kind of support that we would typically see when a community is hit by something that goes beyond what their own resources can typically handle. so, we have had that. and he also acknowledged the reality that he has just signed new gun legislation within the last couple of weeks, and it's the first time any kind of measure related to gun safety has been passed in this country in about 30 years, and yet, that has not been sufficient to stop what happened today at this hig

. >> joining me now, senior white house correspondent kelly o'donnell who is traveling with the president part of the pr push around this trip from the white house has been to frame this as a way to boost relationships between the various countries in the region here. give us a status update. >> in many ways that friendship between bus and israel has been on display through the whole trip. the president has waxed nostalgic about his many visits here over the last 50 years, talked about the personal connection he feels with israel and a lot of that affection has been shown back to him. and that's notable because of course in the prior administration, president trump at the time, was also very close to then prime minister benjamin netanyahu, and we've also seen that biden and benjamin netanyahu who is part of the opposition now are on good terms. what you highlighted there, is a view on iran where in many ways the u.s. and israel share the same objective but for israel, it is the number 1 overwhelming priority, believing that a threat of a nuclear iran puts this country in tremendous jeopar

our colleague kelly o'donnell pressed karine jean-pierre on monday about whether she would release anyollow-up testing after his trip and, in fact, they did release initially a negative test on tuesday. so this issue of how the white house protocols are, you know, typically they took great pride in these protocols because up to this point the president had not been diagnosed with covid-19. he was able to get through that whole fall campaign and through the first year and a half. yesterday actually was a full year and a half in office for president biden without receiving covid but at the same time white house officials had always indicated that it was possible he would get it. they weren't shying away from that fact and in this moment and we've seen that moment now come that he would be given the best care and that their level of concern about what would happen was minimal at this point but naturally, of course, we'll hear from the white house and from dr. jha later today in which we'll get more information about what happens now moving forward. >> we just got news on that, mike, as yo

senior administration official tells kelly o'donnell in addition to all of the calls that the president says he has been making, he is talking to top officials within his administration. he has reached out to the vice president, his chief of staff, his national security advisor and others. i think this underscores the point that peter was making about the optics. the optics are going to be so critical right now. the white house continues to show to the public that his symptoms are mild, he is able to carry out the duties of his office. i go back again to former president trump. you recall how powerful the optics were when he tested positive for covid, when he went to the hospital. the fact that he walked to marine 1 and reporting told us officials essentially had to push him to go to the hospital at that point so that he could walk on to marine 1. when he left the hospital, you will recall he walked into the residence himself. walked up the steps of the residence himself. stood and sort of posed for the cameras to show people that he was able to still function. i think the optics are go

>> well put, kelly o'donnell, thank you for joining us and david rhodes and david ignatius, thank you, gentlemen for all of context, analysis and insight surrounding this meeting for saudi arabia. that will do it for me two full hours. "deadline: white house" is next. ♪♪ ♪♪ >>> hi there, everyone. it's 4:00 in the east. we start with the series of developments in the last 24 hours that reveal the republican party's true identity, intentions and brand. it's depravity in going beyond simply celebrating in their view the overturning of a constitutional right exercised for 50 years in the united states of america upon the right's extremist mindset when it comes to denying nearly all abortion rights for all women in america in the aftermath of roe versus wade being overturned is a warning sign to all americans right now of what they envision for all women including the most vulnerable among us. on capitol hill, republicans are willing to infringe on a person's right to travel in order to hold up their draconian bans on abortion in republican-led states. >> on thursday, senate republicans b